Three Maples Market Garden

Part of our pest control crew joined us today at the Lenox Farmer's Market! We love our dragonfly friends, one of the "good bugs" who help keep our farm ecosystem in balance.

We're here on the green at St. Anne's until 3 today, stop by for some veggies 💚

Happy Pride, friends! Remember to eat your veggies, because taking care of your body is a revolutionary act 😘 🍅🥕💛🥒💙🍆

We're packing up plenty of plant starts for your garden, lots of gorgeous fragrant herbs, and big bunches of our heirloom rhubarb for the first Lenox Farmer's Market of the season!

This is our first market in a lot of years 😬😅 We would love to see you there!

Friday May 24th
11-3
St. Ann's Church, 134 Main Street, Lenox

Nice weather today... If you're a frog! Or a tiny seedling.

While the garden gets a good long drink, I'm catching up on some office work. There was a glitch on our website, but it's fixed now and we do still have a few CSA shares available -- hit us up if you're interested!

Ready... Set... Plant!

We haven't quite hit our last frost date, but the forecast looks good and we're beginning to put out starts at the stand! 💚🌱💚

The farmstand will be open for your seedling and rhubarb needs very soon! Both the stand and the farmer got a new coat of paint today.

A bit chilly, but it feels like spring out today! And in the seedling room with the baby basils, it smells like summer 🌞

Tax day, done and dusted! Whew. Give yourself a pat on the back, and then consider reinvesting your tax return in a season full of fabulous veggies with a Three Maples CSA share!

Buy a share of the harvest and get 18 weeks of fresh carrots, tomatoes, green beans, and so much more. Delivery available in Pittsfield and the surrounding area. Link in bio!

Busting out of winter mode like-

Commit this Valentine's Day with a CSA share!

Weekly love all season long.

2024 CSA signups are open!

Sign up for 18 weeks of fresh, local veggies and your dream of delicious greens will become a reality.

[photo description: bunches of greens with different colors and textures taken from above as they soak in water]

Peak harvest. It's a great time to eat local!

Happy Augtober from the pumpkin patch! 🎃👻🍂

No zucchini in the farm stand this weekend -- we donated it all to the West Stockbridge Zucchini Festival!

WSZF Festival Schedule!

West Stockbridge Zucchini Festival! Saturday August 12th, 10am to 10pm, Rain or Shine!

10am Festival Kickoff w/ WSZF Pet Parade

9:30am Pet Parade Registration

10am-4:30pm Fanfare, Vendors, Live Music & Games
Vendors, Artists, Craftspeople, Performers, Community Orgs, Zuck Races, Hand-made Zuke Games, Poetry, Dunking Booth, Climbing Wall, Bounce Slide, Compost Catapult, Zucchini Decorating, LIVE MUSIC ALL DAY: Shut Up & Dance, FIRE PITT, Berkshire Bateria, and way more!

10am-11:30am Baking Contest Submissions Open*

10:45am Pet Parade Awards*

11am FOOD COURT OPENS (Closes 9:30pm)
Local Berkshire food vendors with a variety of good eats and all of WS’s wonderful local food spots!

11am-3pm Zucchini Weigh-Off Submissions Open*

12pm-5pm Zuck Races (on the hour, every hour - 6 total)

12pm Zucchini Baking Contest Awards*

3:30pm Zucchini Weigh-Off Awards*

4:15pm Zucchini Decorating Awards

5pm Grand Finale Zuck Race

LIVE MUSIC! until 10pm

4:30pm

6:45pm

8:30pm

All evening shows hosted in front of Baldwin Hardware. Dancing in the street ‘till 10pm!

FOOD COURT open until 9:30pm

9:30pm FIREWORKS SHOW!

10pm All done! See ya next year!

*See “WSZF Special Events & Competition Details” post for registration info and details.

Friends, I do not exaggerate when I tell you that this is the toadiest toad I've ever met. Straight out of the pages of a beloved children's story. I'm pretty sure I interrupted him in the middle of a temper tantrum over his lost button.

(I actually saw a big green frog not 20 feet away about ten minutes before this, and I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture!)

Carrots in the CSA shares today! Farmer in training for scale 😍🥕🧑🏼‍🌾

The season's first CSA shares are being packed into boxes right now! 😯 Thanks for joining us, members, we appreciate you and look forward to bringing you lots of delicious produce this season 💚

Some especially cute guests at the airbnbird this week 😍

This robins' nest in the shed has us taking the long way around so as not to startle the very busy parents, who make 100+ round-trips per day to feed these little guys. Baby robins mostly eat caterpillars, which are abundant this time of year, especially on native plants.

Yet again, the libraries and librarians are a beacon of hope. Please, local gardeners, local grownups who want to do nature or science stuff with kids, local teachers- get some seeds! Support this program and the Berkshire Athenaeum.

Our seedlings won't be ready for you for another month, and we understand that may be too long to wait!

The Berkshire Seed Library is now open!

Berkshire Athenaeum patrons can take home up to 10 fruit, vegetable, or flower seed packets per family with their library card. For more information, contact the Reference Desk at (413) 499-9480 ext. 4 or [email protected].

Generously sponsored by the Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum, with support from Hancock Shaker Village and Pittsfield Community Gardens.

The brassicas are poppin' 😃

Brassicas are also known as cole crops: broccoli, kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and in this case collards. They germinate quickly and don't mind the cold. We keep them inside under lights until they're ready to pot up into bigger containers, but it won't be long now until this tray and several others get moved out to the high tunnel.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our home to yours! This is our favorite Irish blessing.

We've got the pumpkin if you've got the spice 😎

Did you know that tomato hornworms (along with lots of other insects) glow under black light?

Hornworms turn into hawkmoths, which are important pollinators, so we don't necessarily want to wipe the caterpillars out completely. But we need to keep the population under control so they don't do too much damage to the tomato crop.

Last night Cian took six-year-old Bridget out to the tomato beds for an after-dark hornworm hunting adventure. They pulled quite a few, but swipe to see the one they left behind -- one that had already been taken care of by nature's pest control, parasitic wasps!

Made our second delivery of the season to our friends at ! Dozens of bunches of anise-hyssop, lemon basil, and tulsi. Our little farm car smelled amazing.

Last night's dinner: Savory Sourdough Veggie Pancakes with soy-ginger-garlic-chive dipping sauce (not pictured).

Recipe Ratio:
1 cup discard/unfed sourdough
1 egg (beaten)
1/2-1 tsp salt

Add veggies of your choice, cut small or grated, and mix them in until they're coated in sourdough mixture. Add spices to your taste. Fry (or bake) until browned and cooked through. We started with 3 cups of sourdough/eggs, realized we'd added too many veggies, and had to add a 4th. There are surprisingly few leftovers.

Last night's add-ins:
Napa Cabbage, sliced thin
Carrots, shredded
Carrot Greens, sliced thin
Chives, sliced thin
Ginger

Paprika
Salt&Pepper

As for dipping sauces, the King Arthur Flour scallion pancakes dipping sauce is a good option for a savory pancake.

It's Week 1 of the CSA!

We still have some spots available, and we offer workplace or home delivery in Housatonic, West Stockbridge, Lenox, Richmond, and Pittsfield.

Pictured: Family Share containing beet greens, chives, fennel fronds, carrots with tops, napa cabbage, anise-hyssop, basil, red leaf lettuce, and rhubarb

Feeling so fortunate to get to do this work as a family. It's not easy, but it's definitely worth it to hear three year old Finn say "I'm a GREAT grower, Mama!"

Happy Earth Day! How did you celebrate?

We celebrated by getting some under soil our fingernails and taking some time to appreciate the increasing green of Spring, including the perennials coming back in the field.

[photo of thyme plant in foreground with maples and greenhouse in background]

It's time to reserve your share!

Signing up now to a CSA (even if it's not ours, but we'd rather it be ours!) lets your payment be used for seed money. That is, paying for the literal seeds (and potting soil and other inputs) before they have to pay interest on the purchases. So your early signup has a greater impact on farms and your local economy than a late one.

It's practically a superpower! Request a covercrop bag cape from your local farmer with CSA signup to reinforce your awesomeness. 🦸‍♀️

CSA Sign-Up | Three Maples Market Garden Reserve Your Share Signing up is easy! Just fill out the form below and pay online with PayPal or a credit card. Or, if you prefer, use the printable form and pop it in the mail with a check. Three Maples CSA Sign-Up Our 2022 season will run for 18 weeks from mid-June through mid-October. A Regular....

This Saturday Cian will be presenting with Jeff Cole at the NOFA Mass Winter Conference about building profitability and resilience in the face of the climate crisis.

Check out NOFA and the resources they have for farmers (and gardeners) working toward a more sustainable food system. We're proud to be members of this awesome organization!

https://www.nofamass.org/event/2022-winter-conference/